How its meant to be
by dreamerbydawn
Summary: Everything that happened was never meant to happen. the Potters were not supposed to die, Sirius was not supposed to live through hell, Remus wasn't meant to lose his friends...the next gen simply set things right!
1. Prologue

disclaimer : i do not own Harry Potter (if you thought i did then I'm honored!)

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**PROLOGUE**

Laughter echoed from the burrow, which like on most festive occasions was cramped. The evening was setting in and the decorations for Halloween dominated the scene. But within the shed in the backyard, by all the muggle junk that the weasley grandfather had collected over the years stood six children, well young adults really, all of them wearing similar expressions of nervousness.

"They will understand right?" Hugo weasley asked quietly as he heard his father's loud voice carrying through the wind. He was tall, lanky more like with weasley hair and warm brown eyes.

"yes Hugo, the letters will explain everything" teddy lupin said reassuringly, his eyes also a warm shade of brown and hair bubble gum pink, something he resorted to only under stressed situations when he took comfort in his mothers hair and fathers eyes.

"We are risking so much" the whisper was from Albus, the second of the potter sons, also tall and muscular with dark hair and the famous emerald green eyes of lily Evans potter.

"Everything actually little brother" James Sirius potter said cheerfully as was his habit. Diffuse the tension was the potter heir's motto as he ran his hand through his messy black hair, something he picked up from his namesake. The hazel eyes, courtesy his mother Ginny (that made him look exactly like his namesake, more so than his own father did) however showed the tension.

"ours plans are water tight, we've done everything we could have and our researches were thorough, we can't go wrong anywhere, besides I assure you that if something had gone wrong, the future me in the past would have sent me a message by now to warn us against this and-"Rose weasley, a younger and slightly taller Hermione spoke fast, though trying to reassure her brothers or herself she did not know.

"Breathe rose, we'll be fine" James said easily, his arm coming up around her shoulder comfortingly. At the same time, teddy too moved to pull the youngest potter into a hug.

"Lily?" he asked as he saw the red haired girl glancing back towards the main house.

"I just don't like hurting dad or mum or anyone else…" she said quietly as she held onto him.

"I know lils but we wont be gone long…..and they might not even know it" teddy said, his voice soothing. She nodded, comforted more by her god brother's hug than his actual words.

There was a momentary silence as the six of them stared silently, waiting for the night to start setting in. Minutes passed and a faint golden light appeared in their midst, brightening as it grew in radius and slowly engulfed them all.

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A/N: its a prologue! of course its short! :P go on the next chapter is already up!


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Having inherited his father's werewolf senses, his sensitive ears picked up the noises coming from the burrow, making teddy lupin stir awake. It took him a moment before he remembered the golden light and he looked around wildly. What could have gone wrong? Why had he passed out? Had it worked? His mind raced as he sat up, looking around.

They were in the Weasley shed, of that he was sure, but there were differences. The amount of muggle goods piled around was significantly less and the place was tidier than he ever remembered seeing it. He stood up carefully, but there seemed to be nothing wrong with his body. He flexed twice to double check before moving around quickly to wake the rest of them.

"It worked" James said, happily jumping to his feet. A huge grin pasted across his face.

"But why did we pass out?" rose asked, also getting to her feet, but with a slight frown.

"I am not sure, but there are a couple of theories" teddy answered as he woke Hugo and lily up. They had used various time turning spells before, just for practice but had never had this predicament before.

"Maybe because we have gone back 40 years and that obviously means we drained more energy or something….." Albus said thoughtfully.

"Yes that's what I thought too" teddy replied and Rose gave a nod of agreement.

"But we have lost a lot of time!" lily exclaimed, her hazel eyes widening. The others followed her line of sight to the now completely dark sky visible through the window.

"How do we find out exactly how much though?" Hugo asked, worry layering his tone.

The six of them exchanged glances before looking at the night sky again.

"I am not sure, but I do know that we have lost the time we need to track Pettigrew down" teddy said, sighing.

"But we _need_ to find him! We can't get to the potters if he doesn't tell us where they are!

He is still their secret keeper!" rose cried, her voice coming out an octave higher in her panic.

"Looks like we need to find another option" James said shrugging and trying in vain to sound casual.

"There is no other option!" she snapped at him before turning to teddy "maybe if we split up….?" She asked.

"No, absolutely not." Came the instant reply from the oldest of the six.

"Lets go to Godrics hollow" James said, always the one to follow his instincts.

"And do what? Wait for Voldemort to come knocking?" rose argued.

"I think we should go" lily said backing her brother up. She trusted his instincts.

"But what's the point?" Albus asked evenly.

"It's better than standing here and arguing" Hugo replied. "At least we will know what's happening"

"Yes, maybe we could first get there, then decide what to do" teddy agreed and moments later, the six apparated to the very end of the lane that lead to the potter household.

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They looked at the house, always having seen it in ruins, they were quite overwhelmed by the subtle charm it held. They were also positive that James and lily were in there, along with baby Harry but knew there was no way to reach them without Pettigrew.

"Damn the rat to the deepest darkest pits of hell" lily muttered, moving wistfully towards the house.

"We can't get in lils" Albus said, also eyeing the house. His grandparents were barely a couple of blacks away from them and yet they were out of reach. The thought frustrated Albus's generally calm mind.

"You little brother are a genius" James stated, suddenly grinning. The others did not know what James had thought up this time, but relief washed through them for though his plans were reckless, they generally worked.

"If we can't get in, we get them to come out" James said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Rose raised her eyebrows skeptically and she wasn't the only one.

Teddy was the only one who nodded and asked "and how do we do that?"

James grinned and said "with a little help from our faithful patronuses".

"Patronus? You think they will come out just because an unknown patronus told them to?" Albus asked.

"Not unknown, no…"James answered slowly as he raised his wand.

"Of course" teddy smiled "James's patronus is the same as Sirius's and if he instead of giving them a message led them out….."

"Then they would definitely follow" James finished beaming.

"After which we follow the previous plan" teddy continued.

"So I lead them straight to rose?" James confirmed.

"Yes" teddy replied and they moved closer to the house, slipping in unnoticed into the front garden. Once well hidden, James caught his god brother's eyes and nodded once, before dispelling a silvery dog that bounded straight into the house.

* * *

James potter stood by the window, squinting into the dark. His wife was right behind him, holding a sleeping Harry in her arms.

"There was someone there" James said, quite sure of the sounds his heightened senses had picked up. Lily looked from her son, to her husband her brows furrowing.

"Maybe just some kids, it's Halloween" she reminded him though she was not all that sure herself.

"Probably" James shrugged before eyeing the sky wistfully once. Where was Sirius? He wondered, his best mate was supposed to visit tonight, he had promised.

"He must have been held back at wormtails, he'll get here soon" lily comforted her husband. He nodded and managed a smile for her as he moved towards the couch. There was a comfortable silence as she leaned into his shoulders, his arms coming up around her and they both sat watching their son sleep peacefully.

Hardly ten seconds had passed when a silvery light appeared in front of them, taking the form of a very familiar dog. James leapt to his feet waiting for the dog to speak but it simply whimpered and moved around in a small circle. Panic coursed through James, all his thoughts now directed towards his best mate. The dog whimpered again before moving towards the door. James made to follow but lily held him back.

"It's a trap" she said, looking intently at her husband.

"What?" James asked his thoughts incoherent at the moment.

"Don't follow it" lily replied firmly.

"Lily Sirius needs-" James began.

"I don't think its padfoot" she said though there was uncertainty in her voice.

"Of course its padfoot, that's his patronus lils, I would know" James replied, gently pulling himself free from her grip.

"No James, if Sirius needs us, he would have said that by now. If he was captured or something, he would give us a warning at the least, not just blindly lead us out this way" lily reasoned as she eyed the silvery dog.

"So you are saying what? The death eaters managed to fire a patronus that looks exactly like padfoot's?" James asked incredulously.

"I don't know what I am saying, but this looks like a trap" lily said flatly.

"I don't care if it is, if they have Sirius, I am going after it" James replied.

"If its Sirius, why didn't he just _ask _us to follow or something?" lily pleaded "it's not Sirius, that's why it's not talking!"

"There is one way to find out lils" James replied gently just as the dog began to whine.

Lily watched in despair as her husband followed after the dog that she was positive was not Sirius black's patronus, but even to her it did not make sense. No two patronuses were alike. She knew that. But hers and sev's were…...

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The six of them watched with bated breath, praying that somebody would follow the dog out. The longer it took the more nervous they got until finally they saw the front door open and James potter made his way out. Rose looked once at the others before stepping out from behind the tree.

His head turned sharply when he heard someone move and was surprised to see a bushy haired brunette standing in front of him; her hands raised up front showing him that she was unarmed. He did not lower his guard though and kept his wand directed towards her chest.

"Where is Sirius?" James asked his voice cold.

"He is not here and he has not been harmed" the girl replied calmly

"Who are you?" he asked, suddenly realizing that his wife had been right. It was foolish to step out alone like this. He turned when he heard footsteps behind him, lily was there, her wand too raised, and pointing towards the girl but her eyes were on him.

"There are others here" she stated plainly. She had already cast the 'humoneuom revelio' and was aware that there were five other people currently hiding there. James growled quietly, moving one step ahead of lily, protectively.

"Yes, there are six of us, as you would already know Mrs. Potter" rose said, her voice still calm. James looked at lily with raised eyebrows and lily nodded, the woman was telling the truth.

Before James could ask another question, they heard someone laughing and watched as two kids dressed for Halloween going past the house. Rose too had turned at the sound.

"The patronus was Sirius's" James stated, making rose turn her attention back to the couple before her.

"No, it was not Sirius's but-" rose began when she saw her cousin jump out from behind the bushes. Lily's wand instantly directed at him but she froze when she saw the man move into the light. It was James. No it was a man who looked exactly like James.

"What are you doing?" rose hissed at him just as the others came out. James moved closer to his wife when he saw his and lily's look alike.

"Rose was supposed to handle this brother" Albus said his tone disapproving.

"But there is no time! They meet him in front of the church, its them, I saw their faces!" James said, his voice had a layer of urgency in it.

"Wait what?" rose asked, her former irritation replaced by confusion.

"The kids Rose! Remember?" he asked "teddy! We don't have time, he's almost here!" James stressed, worried that the others didn't understand him.

They froze, horror struck, they knew they had run out of time but this was unexpected. There was just under ten minutes left. Teddy stepped forward quickly moving to stand in front of the people who were supposed to be his god grandparents.

He saw the confusion in their features, but there was no time to explain. "Mr. Potter, you and your friends illegally became animagi to help your friend Remus lupin who is a werewolf. Your animagus is a stag, Sirius black is a grim and Pettigrew is a rat. You signed the marauders map under your nicknames moony wormtail padfoot and prongs and the map opens when you say _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_ and seals again when you say _mischief managed_. Right now, the secret keeper of this house isn't Sirius but Pettigrew who has just sold you out to Voldemort and he is currently in Godrics hollow, heading here in a few minutes, and we beg you to trust us. Please" teddy spoke fast and said all this in under a minute.

James and lily looked at the young man before them, his earnest eyes were panicked. But everything he had just said was true. But it couldn't be, peter wouldn't sell them out.

"Yes he will" teddy stated making James look up in shock "I know you trust your friends a lot but Pettigrew is simply not a friend. Please let us help you, help Harry."

James looked around at the panicked faces around him, seeing the urgency in their eyes before looking at lily, and then slowly he looked back at teddy and nodded.

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A/N : and so history begins to be rewritten... Reviews appreciated! next chapter will be up tomorrow!


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